out—but he’d embarrassed a lot of people in Devilbend who had invested in his business ventures. Not to mention the fact that he’d put so many people in danger, that his thugs had been responsible for the accident that nearly killed Luke and the other guys. The rich and famous of Devilbend were going to make sure he went away for a long time—they were going to ruin him, bury him. If he ever got out of jail, he’d never step foot in this town again, let alone do business.
Raine Clayton, the CEO of BestLyf, was denouncing him as vehemently as all the other people who had been at my parents’ Christmas party. She’d brushed off questions about his regular sizeable donations, and her PR machine was working in overdrive to squash any suspicion in that area. They’d put out only one statement, making it clear they had no involvement with Joseph Frydenberg past his being a member of the organization, like so many other prominent Americans, and that they’d been unaware of the illegal activity. The press was so preoccupied with all the other constant bombshells surrounding the case, no one hardly looked in BestLyf’s direction.
Turner was more pissed than any of us about that. “That is such a load of shit! Those people are evil incarnate and were so involved in this,” he’d raged a few days after everything came out. Every time a statement even mentioning BestLyf appeared in the press, he’d lose his shit and go on a tirade about what had happened to his mom and what he and his dad had discovered. He’d only calm down once Mena dragged him out of the room.
It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Turner. I’d seen Raine and Joseph talking at our party that night, and she gave me weird vibes, but there was no way to prove BestLyf had done anything illegal. The sums Frydenberg had handed over were substantial, but there were no laws against making donations—and both sides claimed that was exactly what they were. The police were attempting to seize some of the money as proceeds of crime, but BestLyf’s legal team was wrapping that up in so much litigation it would probably be years before the government got their hands on it—if ever.
“You ready?” Hendrix squeezed my hand as he pushed a button, and all the car windows soundlessly slid up.
I’d let him see my apprehension when he’d picked me up, but I’d had the ride over to steel myself, and I wasn’t about to show vulnerability to any of these people.
With him by my side and my girls having my back, it didn’t feel so much like a mask anymore. I wasn’t hiding. I was just reserving the most private parts of myself—the real parts—for those closest to me.
“Ready.” I gave him a genuine smile.
We got out of the car together. Heads turned, whispers sounded, but we ignored it all and just joined our friends.
I gave the girls and Drew a kiss on the cheek each, and Mena started showing us photos of an elaborate makeup look she’d done over the weekend. She was so talented.
Next to us, Drew sat up a little straighter on the hood of his car and nodded to Hendrix. “Welcome back, man.”
Hendrix watched him for a beat, and I waited with bated breath. With everything going on, we hadn’t really had a chance to talk about Drew, but I knew that whatever my boyfriend decided, there would be no changing his mind.
The side of his mouth quirked, and he held out a fist. “Thanks, man. Good to be back.”
They fist-bumped, then did that sideways high five, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Amaya snorted. “Men.”
“I know, right?” I shook my head. It was that easy. No conversations necessary; they were just friends now. Drew asked how Hendrix was healing, Hendrix made out as if he was practically back to normal (lies), and just like that, they launched into a conversation about baseball.
Mena frowned at my sister, who kept glancing over my shoulder. “Why do you keep looking at the front gates?”
Harlow shrugged. “I’m waiting for Mom to pull up. I can hardly believe she let Donna out this morning.”
I laughed, but it ended on a groan. “She nearly didn’t. She made Hendrix come inside and promise to drive carefully and to text her if we needed anything. I’m so glad Dad had to go on his work trip. I think if they were both home, they would’ve